Really cheered by recent postings, in particular by "Swarm"'s second post which was immediately followed by himself again in another of his many identities.

Hmm. So I and Swarm are the same person? Extraordinary, I cannot hep but feel that I would have noticed that I was replying to my own posts.

No, I have no idea who Swarm might be. Is it really so inconceivable that two seperate people might hold opinions contrary to yours?

Interesting also that someone who objects (quite rightly, in my view) to anti-English racism has chosen as his pseudonym the soubriquet of the Englishman with probably the greatest loathing for the Scots of any Englishman in history (a feeling that was unsurprisingly mutual).

Best of all he was the father of antisemitism - persecuting all Jews living in England, forcing them to wear a yellow Star of David in public, every kind of property belonging to them was seized by the King...they were tortured and killed in theatrical style ..and in 1290 he finally banished all Jews from the country.

All this vaguely familiar - You might have well chosen 'Hitler' for a username.

Looks to me like there's been a major sense of humour failure on this forum today.
Therefore:
To Derek I hereby apologise to all muslims for calling myself Longshanks.
To Herbert I hereby apologise for not calling myself Margaret (or even Will; as in Carling but I'd guess that a rugby reference may not be your cup of tea eh?)
To the reluctant Englishman I hereby apologise that its not possible for you to become Scottish......and, blimey, your little piece about IPs and ISPs was rather inconclusive what?
Must go...almost time for Torchwood.
Love
Dastardly Longshanks

To Herbert I hereby apologise for not calling myself Margaret (or even Will; as in Carling but I'd guess that a rugby reference may not be your cup of tea eh?)

If you were trying to suggest people known for their Scotophobia, Brian Moore would have been a better choice than Willie-boy. Brian turned his dislike of Scotland and all things Scottish into an art form - although much too charming a man to cause real offence of course, so perhaps Carling, a man with few redeeming qualities, serves as an adequate role model.

Island communities often have much in common. Apparently Tuvalu is slipping beneath the waves (or are the waves rising over it?) as they blame global warming for eliminating their homeland. I often wonder if they have an equivalent of Seil Chat. Imagine the fun of comparing notes as we consider our future. I don't think Seil will disappear so soon, but do you think they debate the potholes in the roads, local planning, the building of a village hall, the local prawn fisherman, arguments in the local bar, incomers, the local water plumbing, global warming, etc? I bet they do. Wouldn't you swap the woollens for a grass skirt, or are they just as miserable as us? Perhaps we should make a Seil film like this as a sign of unity against the elements.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvl-MBHUi3oThey're sinking. We're rising. When their home has drowned will they be welcome in Seil?

PS Can't wait to hear what longshanks questions will be like in the quiz. Are we allowed to have answers different to his?

That depends P.P if they are white,middle aged/elderly, middle class, well off enough to afford a house and maybe a yacht, like golf, have an in depth knowledge of whiskey, smoke cheroots, spent thirty years in the publishing biusness or some other non-job and want a "slower" pace of life....., they would be a shoe in, other wise #### off.

I don't know if this is the immigration policy on the island but it sure seems to be!!

Climate change over the coming decades will create new security threats both in Britain and overseas, a report has warned.

As higher temperatures cause sea levels to rise and weather patterns to change, the world faces the prospect of wars over resources such as water and food, according to the document.

There will also be pressure from hundreds of millions of "environmental refugees" fleeing their devastated homelands, said the paper from the Oxford Research Group. And in Britain, police and security services may have to cope with demands for tougher border controls, potentially violent protests against polluting companies and intercommunal tensions.

Resistance to Government measures to mitigate global warming, on top of the additional burden of policing new laws to limit greenhouse gases, is also a possibility.

Author Chris Abbott, a fellow of Bristol University's Centre for Governance and International Affairs, warned that attempts to tackle these new problems using existing strategies are doomed to failure. He called for leadership from politicians to develop new co-operative approaches which focus on preventing and managing climate change.

"If governments simply respond with traditional attempts to maintain the status quo and control insecurity they will ultimately fail," wrote Mr Abbott.

"In today's globalised world, using military force to secure resources overseas, while attempting to create a fortress state at home, will not work - despite the potential attraction of such policies for governments faced with such an uncertain future. The security consequences of climate change will not just manifest themselves 'over there' - there will be domestic security concerns for both developed and developing nations alike.

"Leadership within the police, security services and military will need to use their considerable influence to make this clear to policy-makers and impress upon them the importance of taking steps now to prevent and manage climate change, rather than relying on force to try and control the insecurity later."

It is "almost certain" that, by 2050, droughts, food shortages and flooding will lead to the mass movement of up to 200 million environmental refugees, warned the paper, entitled An Uncertain Future: Law Enforcement, National Security and Climate Change. This will inevitably lead to "kneejerk" demands for tighter border controls which are "unlikely to succeed in the long-term".

The report concluded: "In the long-term, the risks of climate change demand a rethink of current approaches to security and the development of co-operative and sustainable ways of achieving that security, with an emphasis on preventative rather than reactive strategies. While this may seem like a huge task, the seriousness of the threat means that it is wholly necessary, and must be started now."

Last edited by Pentlandpirate on Thu Jan 24, 2008 3:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Blimey; spend a pleasant evening watching Torchwood and a profitable day at work and look what happens:
Severence pay comes up with:
"the publishing biusness or some other non-job" . A most surprising opinion, be interesting to know how it was acquired.
Then I read this piece of CO2 warming propaganda from Pantyhose Pirate:
"Tuvalu is slipping beneath the waves (or are the waves rising over it?) as they blame global warming for eliminating their homeland." The sad truth is the reason waves are now overwhelming their islands is that they abandoned traditional fishing methods about thirty years ago and now use dynamite. Its destroyed their protective reef. doh!
Its this sort of untrue scare story which caused a high court judge in Kent to forbid the showing of Goretex's "An unconvenient truth" in all Kent state schools unless the eleven lies/untruths/total inaccuracies in the film were to be pointed out to pupils.
Must go...my feet are getting wet.
[/quote]

And now back to the original theme of the future of Seil et al.
I confidently predict that in thirteen years it will be unusual to hear a Scots accent on these islands.
Evidence:
1) Anectodal - It is not unusual to be in the TnT or the Woolpack and find that the overwhelming majority of accents are English (even outside the holiday season). Further I remember a recent Burns Supper when two of the traditional speeches were delivered in English accents.
2) Statistical - reference to 1991 and 2001 Census results tell me that the percentage of residents on these islands who were not born in Scotland increased from 32% to 38%. Exterpolation (assuming the same rate of increase) to the next census but one ie that of 2021 (thirteen years away) gives us a proportion of non-Scots born residents here just in excess of 50%.
To avoid accusations of racism (having been compared to Hitler recently) I would like to point out that this is not a bad thing....some of my best friends are English.
Bit chilly today eh?

The sad truth is the reason waves are now overwhelming their islands is that they abandoned traditional fishing methods about thirty years ago and now use dynamite. Its destroyed their protective reef. doh!

Eric notes:
"Having given you a recent history lesson...... I will now try and explain some basic mathematics to you : "Anyone get the feeling that he may have been bullied at school If so I do hope he wasn't called a Nerd!
"Extrapolation is the process of constructing new data points outside a discrete set of known data points" Yeah, whatever.
same can't be said for PP eh?
"total pish"

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